A Geass Christmas Carol
by Franchise
Summary: Welcome to the first ever Black Knights Christmas party. It could also very well be the last one with the night that Zero is having.


T'was a few days before Christmas and all through the Black Knight's base, one fan boy reporter was creating quite a big stir.

"Please Zero. Reconsider this." Diethard begged as he trailed after the masked leader.

"No" Zero said turning and looking back at the annoying man. "There is no way that I will do this, Diethard"

"But it's Christmas. Think of the holiday spirit"

"I am Zero. My justice does not take a holiday!"

Diethard smiled warmly at that. Classic heroic expressions like that were part of the reason he was willing to follow Zero's story till the very end. But this was not the time to be in awe. Right now, he had to convince Zero to go along with his idea. And like any good reporter, he knew that you had to do everything possible to get the story.

"Please Zero, please" Diethard cried as he flung himself on to his leader's leg and held on as tight as possible.

Zero looked down in disbelief at the reporter; someone he had thought was a grown man. They were all still traveling to China from Japan via the glacier ships and Zero had thought he would have some relaxing time during the trip. Apparently, it was not to be. Around them various Black Knight members stopped what they were doing and looked over, some of them were smirking, others laughing and placing their hands over their mouths trying to hide it. Lelouch growled underneath his mask as he reached down trying to pry the reporter's arms apart. Sadly he had no luck doing so and as such the laughter increased.

"Pull yourself together man. It is just a Christmas party. I have no objections if you want to have one but I will not be joining in on it"

"Zero, with all due respect, this is much more then a simple party," Diethart said somehow sounding professional despite his position. "Rebellion groups have always depended on the support of the people or else they become nothing more then common terrorists. One of the best ways to do this is by relating back to the people"

"What's your point?"

"The holidays are very important for this Zero and can not be overlooked! Just a couple of years ago, the Japan Liberation Front shunned Hanukah. After that, no one gave a damn about them"

Zero looked downed at Diethard to see if he was really serious about this. "I think you are exaggerating a bit"

"I am not. Plus, there are also the children to consider"

"Children?"

A small smile formed on Diethard's face. "Yes the children. Many of the people who were sent into exile with us have small children. Traveling like this during the holiday season is very hard emotionally on them. I thought that having a Christmas party where they could see their personal hero would help. But alas, if you're too busy…"

Zero paused as his intellect tried to come up with a response that would not make him sound like a total jerk. "Well I…"

"Do you have any fond memories of Christmas Zero? Ones that you would like youngsters to have as well?"

Lelouch paused in thought at this.

- Christmas, 9 years ago –

"Oh my, you both look so pretty" Marianne vi Britannia gushed. The expressions on her children's faces amused the mother to no end. Lelouch hated dressing up for these events so he had a sour look to go with his blue suit. Nunnally on the other hand was very happy twirling around in the pink ballroom gown that closely matched the one Marianne had on.

"Do you really think so, Mommy?" the young girl asked with wide eyes.

"Of course I do sweetie. Now, while I'm at my party, I want the two of you to play nice with your brothers and sisters. Right, Lelouch?"

The young boy scoffed a bit but nodded at his mother. "Fine"

"Why can't we come with you Mommy?" Nunnally asked.

"Well, you see sweetie, this is a very special Christmas party. It's a private one that is only for Mommy, Daddy, and all of Daddy's other wives. I'm afraid you can't come but I will tell you all about it when you're older. Okay?"

"Okay"

Marianne looked over at the guard who was standing quietly behind her two kids. "Jeremiah, make sure they don't get into any mischief"

The young man quickly saluted. "Yes, your majesty! I will guard them with my very life. Also, I would like to thank you for your lovely gift. How did you know that orange filled chocolates were my favorite?"

"Oh, it was just a lucky guess. Well, I must be off. Be good kids and I will see you tomorrow"

A quick kiss tonight to each of her kids and Marianne was off humming a bit while also thinking to herself.

'_Maybe I should get C.C and drag her along with me. It's always fun when I get that girl drunk'_

Watching their mother leave, Nunnally tugged on her brother's arm. "What do you think mommy and daddy do at their party?"

Lelouch looked back at her. "I don't know. It's probably just stupid grown up stuff. Come on Nunnally. I want to go find Clovis and trick him into betting his Christmas gifts in a chess match against me."

"Okay" the girl replied cheerfully as she followed after her big brother,

--------

"Fine, I'll do it" Zero muttered.

In a split second Diethard was off Zero's leg and back on his feet smiling brightly. "Thank you Zero. I knew that this party will be…"

"On a few conditions" Zero said cutting him off. "This is it Diethart. No more favors after this. That means no more personal interviews, no more filming my daily routine and no more photo shoots of me for Black Knights recruitment posters."

Diethard's face paled a bit. No more photo shoots meant that there would be a big decrease in his private photo collection of Zero. Oh well, at least some good ones would come out of this if everything worked out as planned.

"I accept those terms" Diethard replied and the two quickly sealed the agreement with a firm handshake. "Don't worry about a thing Zero. I'll take care of all the arrangements. I even have your costume already prepared."

"Costume?" Zero asked suddenly having a very bad feeling about this.

Meanwhile in another section of the boat, a similar conversation was going on with very similar tactics.

"Pretty please Kallen" Kaguya said forming the sweetest smile possible, "Can you do me this one little favor?"

Kallen Kozuki sighed and looked at the younger girl who was currently stretched out on top of her bed, calmly looking over a folder detailing plans for the party.

"What do you need my help for? I thought you were going to be the hostess for this thing?"

A look of excitement appeared on Kaguya's face "Well I was, but then I found out that Jiang Lihua is going to fly out for the party!"

"Who is that?"

"She is my best friend. Everyone refers to her as Tianzi though"

Kallen's eyes grew wide in disbelief forming the shape of saucers. "You mean to tell me that the empress of China is flying out here just to attend a Christmas party?"

"Yup"

"How did you manage that?"

"I asked the High Eunuchs if she could come"

"And they agreed?"

"Sure they did. All I had to do was ask them nicely…and threaten to blackmail them if they didn't let her come"

'_Figures'_ Kallen thought to herself as she looked at the young girl's face seeing that she felt there was nothing wrong with doing such a thing.

"Tianzi hardly ever gets to leave home and she's never got to have a real Christmas before. I just want to spend time with her and make sure she enjoys this"

Kallen took a long hard look at the sincere smile on Kaguya's face. "You said, you just wanted me to help give out some gifts to the kids right?"

"That's right. Just a few minutes of your time, that's all"

"No tricks?"

"None what so ever" Kaguya replied carefully moving her hands out of sight so Kallen would not be able to see her crossed fingers.

"Well, alright"

"Oh thank you so much Kallen. You're the best!"

'_Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this?'_

- December 24 -

On one of the main ships, which for some reason or another came equipped with a large ballroom, the party was already into full swing. Little kids were running around while their parents and the black knight members mingled in various groups talking with one another. Thanks to Kaguya's hard work, the entire place was decorated to look like a winter wonderland complete fake snow on the ground and Christmas decorations placed in every single possible spot along the walls. To top it all off, the centre of the room had a large beautiful decorated tree with many presents laid out underneath it.

Off to the side was a large buffet table filled with all the traditional Christmas foods and several snacks as well. The only strange oddity in the meal choice was at the far end of the table where there was a giant tray of gingerbread man, only they were made out of pizza and pizza toppings. Dressed in her usual Black Knight's dress, C.C was standing right next to the table calmly sampling half a dozen of the snack food. She was also being very responsible by informing any children that came near the table that this was a grown up food and as such they were not allowed to eat it.

"And that's how I ended up saving Zero's life and we became best buddies" Tamaki yelled out in his wrinkled suit with a drink in one hand.

Several people laughed at the story, those being the ones who had no clue on who Tamaki was. Others like Ohgi, who was dressed in a much cleaner and better looking suit, simply rolled their eyes at how inaccurate the tale was.

Watching the spectacle was one Kyoshiro Tohdoh, calmly sipping a glass of punch while standing in a corner. His fellow Holy Swords, Asahina Shogo and Chiba Nagisa were standing by him.

"Well this is a nice party" Tohdoh said calmly taking another sip of punch. "However, I am glad that it is not a Hanukah celebration"

For a moment Tohdoh's mask slipped away, revealing a raged filled man, one who had much pain and suffering bottled up from long ago. The two swords looked back at one another before Asahina spoke up.

"Sir, we know that it was a difficult time for you, but it was over 10 years ago. Maybe you should just let the grudge go"

"Never!"

On top of the boat, Kaguya waited patiently alone wearing a sparkling emerald green dress. Finally she spotted what she was waiting for, a small transport heading towards the boat. The girl could barely keep her excitement in place as the craft circled around and finally came in for a landing. The second the door opened, Kaguya rushed over and gave the white hair girl that was coming out a large hug.

"Oh Tianzi. You made it!"

The young Chinese girl smiled back dressed in her traditional robes as empress. "It's good to see you as well Kaguya"

Just behind her was Xingke Li, Tianzi's appointed bodyguard for the evening. Seeing that it was Kaguya and not some assassin that had ran up to them, he released the grip on his sword.

"Come on, let's go have some fun" Kaguya said grabbing Tianzi's hand.

The Chinese empress did not have time to protest as she was pulled along with a running and giggling Kaguya. Xingke Li had little choice but to run after them so he could keep his charge in sight.

Yes, the party was in full swing and everything was perfect. Well almost everything as up to this point no one had seen Zero at all. Truthfully a few people did know where he was but they were not saying anything as the surprise would be ruined. So the Black Knights, being the mature and responsible adults that they were, decided that the only thing they could do was start opening presents right now.

Naturally, Zero had the largest pile of gifts there as everyone wanted to suck up…err thank their leader for all his great work. Still, several others got their fair share of gifts as well.

"Check it out" Tamaki cried out as he held up a t-shirt. It was a simple white color but on it were chibi images of Zero and Tamaki's heads along with the words 'Best Buddies' printed on top. "This is my great gift for Zero. He's goanna love it. I even got a second one done up so we can wear them together."

"I'm sure that he will" Ohgi remarked as he slowly tore off the wrapping on a small gift. The man had been surprised to find a small gift under the tree directed to him from Zero. The present ended up being a small hard covered book titled "Chess and the Strategies that can be Learned from it". Ohgi looked over it with interest. "Well this looks it will be a good read"

Tamaki had also gotten a book only his had been larger, a yellow color and called 'Wartime for Dummies'. Tamaki had just looked at the book in confusion for a moment before laughing out loud and saying how much of a kidder Zero was.

The rest of the Black Knights had gotten something from Zero but it was only a card containing a Christmas bonus check (something they all still very much appreciated). The only real exception was Sugiyama Kento who was shocked to discover that he had gotten a small box containing of all things, a solid gold Rolex watch. The man looked confused as both he and several other members wondered what he had did to warrant such a present.

C.C formed a smirk as she watched the man try on the watch. She had been the one responsible for the slight change in gifts for him. The man knew how to cook a very good pizza and C.C felt that such a vital skill deserved to be rewarded. Besides, Lelouch would probably not even realize that his watch was missing anyway. The green haired witch then looked back at her own presents.

Although it looked like it was the smallest pile, C.C had been given almost as many gifts as Zero himself. Most people figured that getting on the good side of the woman who was by Zero's side at all times was a great idea. Plus it didn't hurt that she was considered the second hottest women in the organization right after Kallen. No the reason that C.C's gift pile seemed smaller was that everyone had decided to give her the same thing, a gift certificate for a certain eating establishment.

C.C happily flipped through each one. "Let's see here…Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut, oh a $50 Pizza Hut card, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden?"

C.C paused at this strange deviation from the rest of the gifts and then sent a glare over at the person she had received it from.

"I thought she might enjoy a healthy alternative for a change" Tohdoh explained feeling very scared at the moment.

Kallen let out a scream of frustration as she threw one of her gift boxes on to the floor. Yes, Kallen realized she was somewhat attractive and was expecting to get some gifts from secret admirers. The usual things like a few flowers or maybe some boxes of chocolate. But lingerie did not fall under Kallen's list of acceptable gifts. They were on a boat for god's sake. How would anyone be able to get that out here anyway?

Kaguya who was walking by mingling with various guests stopped and looked down at the dropped present. "Wow Kallen, that's really pretty. Who gave you that one?"

Kallen carefully studied Kaguya's face wondering for a moment if the gift might be from her.

"I came to tell you that it's almost time to give out the gifts to the kids. You need to go get ready"

A dark look formed on Kallen face at the reminder. "You tricked me"

"Why whatever do you mean Kallen?"

The Guren pilot just gave her one last harsh look before turning and stomping off. Kaguya laughed lightly before heading over and rejoining Tianzi.

"Are you having a lot of fun yet?"

The Chinese empress nodded excitedly. Kaguya had chosen to spoil her friend by giving her lots of presents including new clothes and plenty of candy. Currently she was looking at her favorite gifts, a globe and a bunch of atlas showing all the different places in the world with plenty of pictures to look at.

Kaguya reached down and picked up a small gift that was still unopened. "Here, I got this gift for you Xingke Li"

Xingke accepted the gift with surprise and a thank you. Opening it, he discovered that he as well now had a new book to read.

"The Dos and Don'ts of Dating Younger Girls" the Chinese man said reading the title out loud. "Miss Sumeragi, why are giving me this as a present?"

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me"

Xingke just stared blankly at the wink Kaguya gave him. "I still don't understand. What secret?"

Before anymore discussion could be had besides the completely innocent and oblivious Tianzi, the two were interrupted by the loud sound of a microphone clearing. Everybody old and young turned their attention towards the front of the ballroom where there was a small stage set up. Diethard was on that stage with the microphone in hand standing next to a very fancy looking gold chair and a red curtain that blocked part of the stage from sight.

"May I please have your attention? It seems like a very special person has traveled here tonight to say hello to all the little kids here tonight. Would the children all step forward to the front of the stage"

The little kids quickly did so. Kaguya moved a bit closer as well while calmly dragged Tianzi with her once more. Behind the red curtain, Zero waited impatiently and not really too happy at the moment. Diethart had misled him. When he said that the kids would want to see their personal hero, he had immediately assumed that Diethart meant Zero. That wasn't exactly the case.

"Here he is kids. It's my good personal friend, the one and only, Santa Claus!"

Children screamed and cheered in delight while adults clapped politely. The red curtain was quickly pulled back revealing one of the strangest looking Santa Clauses ever seen. The costume itself was fine. It had the black boots, red pants and jacket with the white trim around them and the proper hat. No the differences came from the body itself. First off there was the fact that Santa was really skinny looking nothing like the belly like a bowl full of jelly variety. And secondly was that Santa's face was covered by a large mask that looked just like the one Zero wore but had a fake white beard taped on the bottom of it.

Diethart passed a second microphone to Santa Zero as he moved off to the side so he could start taking good pictures.

"HOHOHO. I am Santa! I have returned!" Zero yelled out. He followed immediately with his usual dramatic pose and a swishing of his red cape. Zero had been told that Santa did not wear a cape but Zero liked having a cape too much and refused to part with it.

The kids began to cheer wildly for Santa although one girl paused looking over Santa. "Excuse me Mr. Claus"

"Yes, umm…"

"Emily"

"What is it Emily?"

"Why do you have a mask on?"

Santa Zero paused in thought debating what would be the best possible thing to explain to an impressionable child.

"You see Emily; I have this mask on because my face was injured when Britannia tried to shoot down my sleigh earlier today"

Gasps came from all the small children.

"Do not worry. I am alright. Britannia is full of naughty people who want to steal all the Christmas gifts and not give any of them to deserving kids. But fear not! With the help of my good friend Zero and his Black Knights, we will crush Britannia and make sure that they never ruin a holiday for you ever again!"

The children were now screaming three times more loudly then before. Zero quickly made his way back the fancy chair they had set up for him. As he did he pulled out a list of kid's names before looking over them again.

"HOHOHO, it seems that I may have some presents for the good little boys and girls here. Now then, where did I leave my sack full of toys? Do you know Diethart?"

A smug smile formed on the reporters face as he looked past Zero at the other end of the stage. "Why I believe those are the toys there Santa, being delivered by your lovely and charming wife, Mrs. Claus!"

Zero turned around looked over at Mrs. Claus also known as Kallen moving towards him with a large bag filled with presents inside. Kallen was also wearing a Santa outfit but one completely different from his own .Instead of a suit, Kallen had a red with white trim Santa dress, one that low cut in the front and ended just a small bit pass her thighs. Lastly instead of a hat, Kallen had a bright red bow tied into her hair. Underneath the mask, Lelouch was slack jawed. If Mrs. Claus was suppose to look like this, there were several Christmas specials out there that were horribly inaccurate.

Kallen wondered what she had done so wrong in life to deserve getting put into stupid costumes all the time. As she walked over, careful not to trip in the black heels she had on, Kallen looked over at Zero.

"Err, hello Santa"

"Hello, Mrs. Claus" Zero replied back curtly.

Kallen placed the bag down and then looked for a spot where she could sit down and rest her feet. Unfortunately the only chair available was the one that Santa was already in.

"Sit in your husband's lap Mr. Claus" Kaguya called out from the crowd.

The adults in the audience all had a laugh at this as Kallen's face matched her suit at the moment. Still there was no other choice so she slowly lowered herself on to Zero's lap with Diethart continuing to take more photos. Zero's body stiffened up as this was happening and both he and his Q1 were sharing the same thought at the moment.

'_Those two set me up!'_

"Alright" Santa Zero attempted to stay calm as the sooner this was done the sooner he could get away. "The first person is Billy. Could Billy come up here please?"

A young boy with messy brown hair that looked like he was five or six quickly raced up to the stage in front of Santa.

"Here you go Billy" Kallen said with a bright smile as she passed out his present. Billy happily took the gift but then he had a question for Mrs. Claus.

"Are you a hooker? Mommy says that hookers dress like that and a hooker is the reason that Daddy never came back home to us"

Kallen's face was once again red only this time due to a different emotion. "Enjoy your gift Billy. Make sure that you don't choke on any of the small pieces" she growled out.

The kid ran away quickly and Zero began hating this idea more and more with every passing second.

'_Maybe I should have just stayed at Ashford. Nothing there could be as bad as this' _

--------

"Attention all students, this is your great and glorious council president Milly Ashford speaking"

Milly was currently in the student council office with a bright smile on her face, addressing everyone on the speaker system. Beside her was a large amount of wrapping paper, tape, and ribbons but no sign of any gifts that actually needed to be wrapped. For a normal person this would be considered a little odd. For Milly, it was both normal and something to be very sacred about.

"It's time for this year's Ashford Academy spectacular gift hunting event! The rules are quite simple. Using wrapping paper and tape, you are to find another student and tie them up so that they look like a Christmas gift. Once you do then that person is your special Christmas gift and will have to spend time with you during the holidays doing whatever you want. Everyone is fair game including the student council and even yours truly. And one last thing. I have several expensive presents for anyone who can bring Lelouch Lamperouge wrapped up with a pretty bow on his head to me. Now then, ready, set, go!"

For a few moments, a peaceful tranquility of silence passed over the academy. Then it was shattered by screaming and pounding feet as every single student began to move. Half of the populace was searching for places to hide; the other half was already armed with supplies and on the hunt.

Two people who had choose to join the join the runners were Shirley Fenette and Rivalz Cardemonde. The two council members were together panting heavily as they tried to stay ahead of the mob that was right behind them.

"We need to find Milly a new hobby" Shirley gasped out.

"Yeah," Rivalz agreed sweating a lot more as he was not nearly as athletic as Shirley. "Hey, do you think she is secretly telling me that she wants me to gift warp her?"

Shirley managed to turn her head off and roll her eyes at Rivalz comment but that ended up being a mistake as she now couldn't see the wall that was coming up.

"Agghhh"

Rivalz looked back as Shirley bonked her head off the wall and fell to the floor. He started to move back to get her but Shirley held up a hand.

"No wait, there is no time. Run and save yourself Rivalz."

"…Okay"

Shirley blinked in surprise not actually expecting him to agree. "Wait, Rivalz. I didn't mean that. Come back here!"

It was too late as the boy was already off running again. Shirley moaned and tried to pick herself off the floor as she could here the crowd closing in fast.

"Oh Lulu, where are you?"

At that moment 'Lulu' or rather Sayoko disguised as 'Lulu' was currently using all of her ninja skills to avoid students intent on capturing Lelouch. The fact that no one expected the young boy to be in any way athletic had given her an edge and at the moment she was currently hiding in the shadows of one of the classrooms. Since she figured it would be a few more minutes before anyone found her, she decided that now would be as good a time as any to update her diary.

_Dear Diary. When master Lelouch asked me to impersonate him, he did not mention there would be so much physical work involved. I have not had such a workout since my shinobi training. Still, it is more enjoyable then having to bring out the garbage to the corner. I hope that master Lelouch is enjoying himself at the party, the one I am sadly missing right now. Oh yes, I must remember to send Miss Milly a thank you note for the katana she gave me this year. I believe I made need to make use of it before the night is over. _

Villetta Nu sighed as she could hear the loud noise from the event even down here in the secret underground base. Currently she was spending her Christmas Eve hiding from the chaos. She was also quite thankful that Milly Ashford had never gotten involved with the Black Knights else Britannia might still not be standing today.

Trying to block out all the noise, Villetta reached for her mug and took a sip of her cocoa.

It was really good cocoa. The only thing that might have made it better was if there was a certain handsome rebellion member to share it with.

'_No' _Villetta berated herself. _'You have to stop thinking about Ohgi. He is the enemy and is long gone now anyway. It would never have worked out between us…even if the sex was incredible'_

In a pathetic attempt to focus her mind on other things, Villetta looked over at her other guest in the bunker for the holiday. Rolo Lamperouge was currently sitting on the cold floor in his pajamas. Currently his gaze was focused on a ventilation shaft while his hands were tightly holding on to his cell phone or rather the locket that was attached to it.

"What are you doing Rolo?" Villetta asked knowing she probably wouldn't like the answer.

"I'm waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. Since we don't have a chimney, this shaft is the best thing for him to come through. Brother said he was real so I'm waiting for him so he can grant my Christmas wish. Then brother will come back home and we can all spend Christmas together as a family"

Villetta felt another migraine coming on. First she had to deal with the Geass assassin that had family issues. Then it was the fact that she had to go undercover as a gym teacher and deal with annoying kids all day. Now she had to deal with being blackmailed into helping the person she was suppose to by spying on who had also tricked the assassin and made him even more annoying. Sometimes Villetta wondered if nobility was really worth all this.

On the one hand, Suzaku should have actually been happy with all the attention he was now getting. When he first started at the academy, he was pretty much treated like dirt and an outsider. Now he had popularity, and no fewer then 30 girls who wanted to catch him at this moment. Still as he slammed a classroom door shut and began barricading it with desks, Suzaku couldn't see the bright side of things.

The instant the last desk was in place Suzaku whipped out his phone and dialed a familiar phone number. "Gino, it's me Suzaku. I need an emergency evacuation out of Ashford Academy as quickly as possible. Take the Tristan with you and get a squadron of Knightmare frames as back up"

"Is everything alright Suzaku?" a voice clearly female asked.

"Nunnally?" Suzaku cried out. "What are you doing with Gino's phone?"

The girl giggled a bit. "Your friends invited me to Christmas dinner"

"What?"

"Gino and Anya brought me over to spend Christmas with you guys. Miss Cecile is cooking a big turkey dinner for us and Gino is giving her a hand with the food"

Suzaku face became white as snow. Gino and Cecile are cooking together? That was most definitely not a recipe for success.

"So, are you in some kind of trouble?" Nunnally asked.

"No, I'm fine. I was just actually calling to say I might be a bit late getting there, so please start without me"

Suzaku winced as he heard the sad tone in Nunnally's voice. "Will you try to make it soon?"

"I promise Nunnally"

Suzaku looked back the barricaded door as the girls did not seem so bad anymore. After all it was only 30 or so girls he had to fight off. Also, after he escaped, he could stop and pick up some take-out food for himself and stomach medication for the others.

The useful cheerful personality of Nunnally died a bit as Suzaku hung up the phone. It was bad enough that it was the holiday season and she still had no clue on where her brother was right now. But not having Suzaku there as well made it much worse as he was currently not just a close friend, but the closest thing Nunnally had to family as well.

"Suzaku will be fine. He can take care of himself" Anya said as if reading the girl's thoughts.

The pink haired knight of six was seated a dining room table alongside Nunnally. Anya hadn't bothered to even look at Nunnally when she was speaking to her. It wasn't like the blind girl would know one way or the other. Mainly it was because Anya was too busy playing with her new present; a pink I-phone 9000 which had a built in camera so powerful that it could take pictures on the microscopic level.

At that moment, a large amount of banging noises and what sounded like a small explosion followed immediately by the hissing of a fire extinguisher came from the direction of the kitchen. A moment later, a door swung open and Gino entered the room smiling brightly.

"How is everyone doing out here? We had a little mishap with the oven but everything is still going fine and dinner will be ready in just a little bit"

Nunnally sniffed the air. "Is something burning?"

Anya zoomed in her with her phone at Gino's head causing the knight of three to look up and realize that part of his hair was still on fire. He quickly patted it down to make the flames go out.

"Nope, everything is a-ok"

"That is a lie Weinberg!"

Gino and Anya looked up in shock as a figure came hurtling through one of the windows, one that the two knights never expected to see here tonight. Bismarck Waldstein, the knight of one aka their boss, landed firmly with both feet on the floor while pieces of glass showered down all around him.

"Sir, why are you here?" Gino asked still not believing it.

Bismarck gave the group a hard look with his one eye. "I sensed that the future of a Christmas dinner was in dire danger. Therefore I have come to save the day!"

It was at this point, Gino and Anya got a good look at their commanding officer. Besides his usual Rounds uniform, the man was also wearing a large apron. The top half of it had the imposing and harsh looking figure of Charles vi Britannia wearing a Santa hat. Below it on the bottom was an expression in large black letters: I Order You to Have a Happy Holidays!

Nunnally clapped her hands in delight. "Hooray"

"Oh thank god" Anya said, a Christmas miracle as she actually had some emotion in her voice.

"Now then Weinberg, direct me towards the kitchen" Confidence radiated off the large man as he pulled a broadsword off of his back and held it with one hand, "I have a turkey to carve"

"Right this way sir" Gino said pointing towards the door which Bismarck quickly barged through.

"Hello there…" Cecile began to say.

"Out of the way woman!"

Meanwhile back on the Titanic………sized iceberg ship…

"Merry Christmas" Zero said as he gave a small girl named Zoe her present, the very last one on his list.

Kallen relaxed a bit happy that they were finally done. After she had threatened the first kid, most of the other ones were smart enough not to piss off Mrs. Claus. Other then a few extra people inviting themselves up such as Kaguya, Tamaki, and Diethard who wanted a close up shot, everything else went fine. Even the still nervous Tianzi was invited up where she received a lovely doll which she quickly thanked the two for. Kallen was actually starting to think that this hadn't been so bad when someone else suddenly sat down in Zero's lap right beside her.

"Do you have a gift for me Santa?" C.C asked smiling sweetly at the pair. "I've been a really good girl this year"

Kallen rolled her eyes wondering what C.C's definition of the word good was. She was just about to tell the green haired witch to get off when Zero held up a hand to silence her. The genius had expected something like this and was prepared for it.

"Here you are little girl" Santa Zero muttered as he pulled an object hidden behind the chair and shoved it into C.C's arms.

After being around for centuries, there were very few things that could actually surprise C.C. Still, this was an exception as her eyes widened in disbelief. It was a special limited edition reindeer Cheese-kun doll. C.C quickly looked it over to make sure that this was authentic. The comfy foam antlers on the top its head. The black hoofs in place of the hands and feet. And most importantly, there was the big red nose that would glow in the dark. Only 200 of these had been produced for the general public and this was the genuine article.

"Where were able to get one of these?"

"My elves made it" Zero replied before lowering his voice, "Now, get off of me!"

Elves was Zero's term for pizza hut employees he had to geass to get a hold of that stupid doll, the total number being ten. He never expected that an eating establishment would have so much security and that high a chain of command to go through.

C.C did finally get off. As she started to head back, she placed a small object in Zero's hand. "This is my Christmas gift to you Santa"

Zero stared down at it. "You got me a gift certificate for Olive Garden. How nice" He then looked back at all the party goers. "Well, this has been great but Santa needs to go deliver the rest of his presents to other kids. So goodbye"

"Wait, Santa" Diethard called out, "Before you go, you and Mrs. Claus might want to look above you"

The pair did so and saw that just above their heads was a small leafy plant hanging on a thin wire just above their heads. Now neither Zero nor Kallen were very avid gardeners but at this time of year, you didn't need Lelouch's brains to figure out what that plant was. Mistletoe.

"I think you know what that means" Diethart said with a wide smile. At the same time, Kaguya formed an identical grin happy that all her work to get those closer together was working.

"Yes I do" Santa Zero replied quickly.

A second later Kallen fall to the stage floor on her butt as Zero had leapt up out of chair and had moved a few feet away so he was no longer under the mistletoe. Underneath the mask, he sent out glares at both Diethart and Kaguya as he looked over at them.

'_So, this was your little game? A decent attempt but still not good enough to catch me' _

Zero suddenly paused when he realized that neither of the two conspirators seemed upset by this at all. In fact their smiles seemed to be growing wider. Zero then happen to notice that Kaguya was pulling something out of a small purse she had. It was a remote with a single button.

"You shouldn't underestimate me, my husband" Kaguya blew a kiss over to Santa as she pressed the button.

A whirling noise was heard coming from above. Kallen pulled herself back to her feet and looked upwards, Zero's gaze following right behind. Lowering from the ceiling was fifty, no a hundred more pieces of mistletoe all on wires. Each piece was a few inches from any other piece so that the group of them covered the entire length of the stage. Kallen and Zero backed up until they hit the wall trapped with a forest of hanging green leaves in front of them.

"Kiss, kiss," the crowd chanted either thinking this was all some sort of show or just too drunk at the moment to understand normalcy.

"Any ideas?" Kallen asked looking over at Zero.

Zero looked over the crow his mind calculating all possibilities. "I have one. Mrs. Clau…I mean Kallen, get ready to run"

Santa Zero posed for the crowd one more before yelling, "Children, step forward! It is time I told you what the true meaning of Christmas is!"

The little kids stopped playing with their new toys and moved forward to the front of the stage to hear what Santa had to say. As they did, Zero bent down so he would be at eye level and a panel of his mask opened revealing his glowing geass eye.

"Act like insane over hyper kids and get rid of all the mistletoe" he ordered.

A red glow flashed over the kids eyes before they all began screaming loudly and started jumping and running around on the stage.

"What are they doing?" Kaguya cried out as they began to yank the mistletoe off the wires.

Diethard quickly moved over on to the stage trying to calm them down. "Now kids stop that. Don't you want to be good little boys and girls?"

One kid immediately responded by kicking Diethard in the shin. The reporter cried out in pain as he accidentally dropped his camera ff the stage where it hit the floor with a loud crack.

"No, my Zero photo collection!" Diethard screamed diving after the camera trying to inspect the damage.

"Go now Kallen!"

Amidst the confusion, Santa and Mrs. Claus suddenly started running off the stage and through the crowd of people heading towards the exit at the back. Meanwhile, the kids continued to follow their orders by getting rid of the mistletoe. However, Zero hadn't been specific on how they should get rid of it so the kids just started throwing it back into the crowd of party goers.

Rakshata Chawla had been relaxing on her regular couch alongside one of the walls after she had made some lower ranked Black Knight grunts drag it down for her. She had laughed at all the antics going on up until now when she suddenly noticed one of the pieces of mistletoe landing on her couch. She stared at the leaf before shrugging.

"Oh well, might as well do something festive"

The Indian scientist reached towards the nearest male, an unsuspecting Ohgi, and pulled him down by his tie to her level for a lip lock.

"Merry Christmas senpai" Futaba Ayame greeted before giving a light peck to Tamaki.

Tamaki grinned widely with a drink in one hand and mistletoe in the other. "I love this holiday!" he yelled out before giving another kiss back to Ayame.

Tohdoh and Nagisa were silent staring at one another and at the piece of kissing plant that had landed directly between the two. Tohdoh finally decided to speak first.

"I guess since it is tradition…"

Nothing more could be said as Nagisa leaned in and began to French kiss the bringer of miracles. Two minutes later Nagisa was still going at it and Tohdoh was struggling to get her off so he could breathe.

Tianzi laid a comforting hand on Kaguya's shoulder. "I'm sorry your thing didn't work out"

"I just wanted to help a fellow court lady and get the two to be more open with their feelings so they could start making out. Is that so much to ask for?"

"Well, at the least the party is going well and everyone is enjoying themselves. I am as well and am very happy that you invited me"

Kaguya glanced back at her friend and then smirked as she noticed the Chinese girl had a piece of mistletoe stuck in her hair.

"You're right Tianzi. Thanks" Kaguya replied followed by a simple kiss on the lips.

After the kiss, Tianzi was frozen to the spot not saying a word as a blush formed on her face. This just caused Kaguya to start laughing at her friend. Across the ballroom floor, a displeased look formed on Xingke's face. He really hoped that he did not just saw what he thought he saw. If so, then there was a good chance Tianzi would have some curious questions for him later on, ones he would prefer not to have to answer.

"This is complete madness" he complained as he whipped out his sword and used it to cut up another of the accursed plants before it could get close to him.

Asahina walked over towards him. "This actually isn't as bad as some of the other events that have been held" he remarked sadly. "Drink?"

Xingke looked at the unopened bottle of liquor in the man's hand and quickly accepted it. "Thank you"

At the back of the room, C.C was looking for any leftover pizza snacks and noticed Kallen and Zero running as they barged out of the exit.

"Have a good time alone you two" She called out after them in a teasing manner.

C.C then turned around happening to notice that several males were moving towards her, the majority having mistletoe with them. C.C smiled sweetly at the group and then pulled out a gun that had been strapped to her leg. Her smile continued as she pointed the gun at the men as if silently daring them to give it their best shot.

-----------

Neither Zero nor Kallen stopped running until they reached the safety of Zero's own bedroom. Once inside, Zero sealed the door and quickly yanked off his Santa hat, beard, and mask.

"You didn't have anything to do with this? Right?" Kallen asked sitting down on Zero's bed and tossing off the painful high heels.

The angry and sweat filled face of Lelouch vi Britannia glared over at her. "Do you really think I would subject myself to that kind of torture?"

"Good point"

Lelouch groaned as he got more of the Santa suit off. "I am never letting either of those two plan anything ever again! If they try to, then…" Lelouch stopped as he noticed something off with his surroundings. "What is that?" he asked moving towards the foreign object.

Kallen looked embarrassed when she saw what Zero was looking at it. "Actually, it's your Christmas present" she admitted.

Lelouch looked over the object very curiously. At first glance it seemed like an ordinary chessboard but if one were to look closer they would noticed that there was something very different with the black pieces. Lelouch reached down and picked up the king piece was a beautifully hand crafted image of himself as Zero. Next to that piece, there was one of Kallen in her flight suit signifying Q1 or the Queen. Other important Black Knight members such as Ohgi, Tohdoh, Diethard, and Rakshata made up the knight and bishop pieces while at each of the two corners there was a small sculpture of the Guren and the soon to be completed Shinkiro symbolizing rooks. Lastly, there was the row of pawns which were various other members including one that had the image of an idiotic Tamaki. Zero then noticed with a surprise that the black side had one extra piece. Picking it up, he smirked as he realized that the piece was designed to look like a green haired witch.

Lelouch looked back at Kallen. "You got this for me?"

"Yes and no" she replied. "I did get the gift but C.C was the one who told me that you would like something involving chess. Also Kaguya helped arrange to get all the materials needed to create the pieces. So it is more of a group gift from the three of us"

"Either way, this gift is still very thoughtful. Thank you very much for it" The genuine smile from Lelouch wavered a bit. "I just wish I had a proper gift to give back to you"

Kallen just stared at him. "Lelouch, you are fighting to help us and free the Japanese people. That is much better then any gift you could ever give me. Just promise me that you will never give up"

"Very will, I promise. Oh and Kallen, there is one thing I can give you"

"What's that?"

Kallen had no time to react as Lelouch leaned in and gave her a light kiss on her lips. The kiss was nothing fancy and it did not come from a romantic with years of experience. But for Kallen, it was perfect and for the next few moments she was in a state of pure bliss.

"Lelouch…why did…" she finally asked.

Lelouch did nothing but look up causing Kallen to do the same. As she did, she saw the multiple pieces of mistletoe that were also hanging up there. Apparently Diethard and Kaguya had come up with a few backup plans for their little scheme.

The two continued to stay under the small plant not moving or saying a single word.

"Lelouch…"

"Kallen…"

Both spoke at the same time and then stopped once more. Perhaps words were not needed for this. They continued to look into each other's eyes for a long time as their heads tilted slightly and their lips began to get closer and closer and…

Lelouch's cell phone came to life ringing and completely killing the moment.

"Yes" Lelouch answered in his Zero tone of voice while Kallen secretly wished she could destroy the thing. Zero seemed to share those sentiments as after a few moments of not saying anything, he turned the phone off and hurled it at the nearest wall.

"What is it?" Kallen asked softly noticing a mix of pure anger and a small bit of fear on Lelouch's normally calm visage.

Lelouch took a deep breath before responding "That was Diethard. He wants to talk about his ideas for the New Year's Eve party"


End file.
